Overlooking the mighty Douro Estuary, Porto is an ancient seafaring city with a long and impressive history of international adventure and trade. Porto’s centre is a World Heritage site, featuring everything from beautiful medieval walls to Baroque churches, cobbled streets and a lovely Romanesque Cathedral, all with delicious, rich port wines threaded through it. And the food? It’s exceptional.

Here are some of the best things to do and see in Porto, a list you’ll want to work your way through when you visit this inspiring place.

27 places to go in Porto

  1. Porto was originally a fishing village which sat on the site of the newer Ribeira district. Visit Ribeira for a buzzy experience, a place where the fun never stops, a tourist haven for a very good reason. It has the finest views of the river, a total delight for Instagrammers, along with a lively vibe of street performances, music, great food and lovely bars. 
  2. They still stash Port wine in the old warehouses on the south bank of the Douro. Stop off for a tour and tasting experience, and maybe buy a bottle of something special to take home with you, a drink with oodles of Portuguese sunshine scattered through it.
  3. Keep going along the river from the Douro’s southern bank towards to ocean and you’ll come across the Foz do Douro district, loved for its glorious sandy beaches and trendy restaurants, a stylish destination for a relaxing day’s wandering.
  4. The Farol Molhe do Douro lighthouse used to guide ships safely in and out of the river mouth. Now the surroundings are all about the food, with numerous excellent restaurants, amazing sunsets and more romance in the air than anywhere else in the city.
  5. The Casa da Música concert hall dates back to 2005, an extraordinary building by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. It’s worth seeing even when there’s nothing on, simply to admire the 1300 seat venue with its huge glass walls and world-class acoustics.
  6. Casa do Infante is where Prince Henry the Navigator was born in 1394. You’ll see his statue outside the outrageously opulent Palácio da Bolsa.
  7. Navigate the complex maze of steep roads at Cais da Ribeira to get brilliant views of the Luís I Bridge along with rows of graceful pastel-coloured houses, some in perfect condition and others gently falling apart in a scenic sort of way.
  8. Praça da Liberdade is wide, gracious and feels completely different from the winding cobbled streets in the centre, a nice square to sit and relax in.  Laid out in the 1700s, it’s home to the magnificent Neoclassical Palácio das Cardosas, once a 1700s convent and now a very smart hotel. Think posh and you get the picture. This place isn’t just imposing, it’s also stuffed with expensive, exclusive designer shops.
  9. The Igreja do Carmo church is nice, featuring pretty Rococo architecture, but the big deal is the building’s facade on Praça de Carlos Alberto, smothered in the city’s famous blue and white tiles called azulejos, depicting the Carmelite Order and Mount Carmel in Israel. Inside there’s more of Porto’s extraordinary gilded woodcarving.
  10. Porto’s Contemporary Art Museum, opened in 1999, offers a stream of constantly-changing exhibitions featuring some of the world’s greatest modern artists.
  11. Luís I Bridge is symbolic of the town, a vast landmark you can’t miss as you explore the place. An unusual two-level metal arched bridge, it dates back to 1886 and was designed by Théophile Seyrig, the German designer who helped found the Eiffel Company, famed for the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Expect the same grandeur as the French capital’s landmark and you won’t be disappointed. It stands almost 45 metres high and offers amazing views of the dramatic banks of the Douro.
  12. The lower deck of the Luís I Bridge is pedestrianised, one of the most exciting walks in the whole city thanks to the views and the sheer height of the walkway.
  13. The Funicular dos Guindais connects the Batalha area with the Ribeira, with glorious views over the river and the bridge to the waterside.
  14. Clérigos Church has a tall tower to climb, a whopping great edifice dating back to 1763, soaring to 75.6m with awesome views from the top. Watch out for the lovely carvings all the way up the outside. There are 240 steps to navigate and there are often queues.
  15. The Gothic Church of São Francisco was finished in the year 1425, an extraordinary structure considering its age. It has a particularly nice rose window. The interiors were embellished between the 1500s to the 1700s and the whole place glitters with real gold, studded with intricate wood carvings.
  16. Matosinhos Beach, set in a huge bay, is perfect for a paddle in the refreshing Atlantic Ocean. There are ten beaches near enough to Porto for rock ‘n’ roll, many with Blue Flags. Matosinhos is the easiest to reach, just after the Parque de Cidade. 
  17. Serralves Museum and Villa lie in the city’s west. The Villa itself dates back to the Art Deco period in the 1930s, with splendid interiors designed by famous people Siclis and Lalique. Surrounded by peaceful gardens, it makes a superb place to chill out with its cool, tree-lined paths, complex topiary, spotless lawns and pretty pergolas.
  18. Palácio da Bolsa is the town’s old stock exchange, dating back to 1850 with an unusual interior created ever since, the last bits completed in the early 1900s.Expect amazing sculptures, tiles, carvings, plasterwork and chandeliers.  Don’t miss the Moorish Revival Salão Árabe and the Pátio das Nações courtyard with its octagonal glass roof.
  19. The beautiful Belle Époque Majestic Café on Rua Santa Catarina is perfect for relaxing with delicious food and drink.
  20. Porto Cathedral dates back to the 1200s, a forbidding building that also played a defensive role. Inside it is part Romanesque, part Baroque.
  21. It’s a wall… but what a wall! The Muralha Fernandina dates back to the 1300s, close to the Luís I Bridge and running more or less parallel to the funicular. Climb onto the wall from Largo 1. de Dezembro and chill out in the secret garden filled with beautiful orange trees, with stunning river views.
  22. Head for the pretty Jardins do Palácio de Cristal, the site of the city’s own Crystal Palace, which sat on the site until 1969. The gardens are very lovely, complete with fountains and sculptures, gingko trees, pine trees, lush shiny camellias, rhododendrons, beech trees, peacocks and the Super Bock Arena were events take place.
  23. The Church of Santa Clara was built in 1457 on the site of a medieval convent then updated with significant added bling in the early 1700s.
  24. Visit Parque de Cidade with a picnic or snacks to enjoy the biggest urban park in the whole country. It extends to more than 83 hectares, a place of pine tree groves and huge rolling lawns, and massive decorative stacks of granite rocks.
  25. The Soares dos Reis National Museum is full of religious art confiscated from Portuguese convents, including some works by the painter of the same name as well as other famous painters from Portugal.
  26. Love the beautiful game? Visit the FC Porto Museum, celebrating one of the country’s best-loved and most successful football teams via interactive technology and multimedia.
  27. Last but far from least, why not climb the Ponte da Arrábida bridge, longest concrete arch bridge in the world when it was built in 1963, crossed by 136,000 cars every single day. Bridge climbing involves all the right safety gear and a safety line, and while it’s terrifying the views are incredible.

There’s so much to see and do in Porto, why not check out our other city guides to see what else is in store for you?

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